New Orleans Saints have some new faces that might give the Green Bay Packers reason to pause

There aren't many secrets in the NFL, not much to offer in terms of element of surprise.

Chris Granger/The Times-PicayuneSaints defensive end Cameron Jordan could be a surprise face for the team against Green Bay on Thursday.

Most subterfuge is little more than masked paranoia, coaches issuing misleading injury reports -- or outright withholding information -- in hopes of gaining a competitive advantage that might last all of a series. But if, indeed, there is a personnel advantage to be enjoyed Thursday night, from a standpoint of who-the-heck-is-that or we-didn't-prepare-a-lot-for-him, then the Saints just might have a little something on the Green Bay Packers.

That's not saying defensive ends Cameron Jordan and Turk McBride, who have a good chance to start for the New Orleans Saints, will emerge from the season opener at Lambeau Field as heroes, to be paraded off the field on the shoulders of teammates after their roles in a victory over the reigning Super Bowl champions.

It's just to say that in a league where teams always are looking for even the slightest advantage -- whether a guy sticks his hand on the ground before he bull rushes or wiggles his left pinky before running a square out -- the absence of a wealth of information on Jordan, a rookie, and McBride, who played the last two seasons with the Detroit Lions and has started less than half of his 51 NFL games, could help New Orleans.

Two weeks ago, the Packers likely were expecting veterans Alex Brown and Will Smith, last season's starters, to open at defensive end for the Saints. On Thursday night, they won't see either. Brown has been cut, and Smith will sit out the first two games because of a suspension for violating the league's drug policy three years ago.

"I think you still have some talented guys out there," Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "Turk McBride is a guy that we have seen in Detroit in the past. (But) losing a guy like Will Smith does not make your defense better. He is one of the top guys at his position in the league.

"I have played against (New Orleans defensive coordinator) Gregg Williams before. I know what kind of coach he is. He is an extremely talented coach, and he gets his team prepared. I know they will have something special for us, and I know it will be a big challenge for us."

Said Packers Coach Mike McCarthy: "Turk's a good football player. Turk and that whole rotation is something that we've been spending time on, just with watching last year's film and this year's preseason. You see a lot of Alex Brown and Will Smith in there, so just trying to watch those guys and trying to prepare for a certain kind of rotation. I think Turk is an experienced and accomplished player."

That's awful nice of McCarthy to say, butt the fact is that McBride is a lot more experienced (six seasons) than he's accomplished (115 career tackles and seven sacks). Jordan, in terms of NFL service, is neither.

Jordan, for now, is a talented first-round pick who hasn't played a down in a regular-season game. But he, McBride and others played well enough in training camp and exhibition games to make the Saints feel comfortable cutting Brown and not seeking a veteran replacement while knowing Smith likely would be suspended.

That gives the Saints a couple of faces that the Packers don't have a reservoir of knowledge on.

"We're definitely a new front that they haven't seen before, for sure," Jordan said with a laugh. "But there are still veterans on the team, definitely inside (at defensive tackle). There's still a lot of collective knowledge. So, sure, we're going to be playing and you're going to be seeing a lot of us, the whole defensive line."

It'll be to the Saints' advantage if it's Rodgers who is seeing a lot of the whole defensive line. But hemming in Rodgers and bouncing him around won't be easy -- the Super Bowl MVP is evasive, smart and athletic.

But then, Rodgers and the Packers aren't exactly sure what they're facing, either, in Jordan, McBride and the other defensive ends. Smith and Brown are veterans with extensive résumés; their replacements, relative pups who have no labels yet.

"It's not preseason. You're not being rotated in," Jordan said. "They give you a specific role now, and it's going to be a wonderful experience just to get out on Lambeau Field and have the ability to start -- if I start, when I start, whatever."

Start and, if the Saints are fortunate, make an impression that the Packers won't forget and future opponents will make note of.